Chances are that when you first saw your baby in the hospital, he was wrapped up tight in a blanket. The technique of tightly wrapping an infant is known as swaddling, and most nurses recognize it as a guaranteed way to calm a baby. Besides keeping your baby warm, swaddling keeps a baby’s limbs close to the body. Until a baby gets used to being out of the womb, the movement of her arm and legs may be upsetting.

If you took your baby home before getting some swaddling tips from the nurses, it’s never too late to learn. This YouTube video shows some expert swaddling, and it also shows how swaddling can calm a baby: